All I know about English costume designer Nic Ede is his first credit was in the costume department on Monty Python’s The Life of Brian (1979); he frequently works with costumer Raïssa Hans, who I adore ever since I interviewed her; and with one major exception, I really like his work! Let’s run down his frock flicks resume:
The Madness Museum (1986)
A black comedy about a doctor working in a mental asylum in 1860.
Shitty screencap is shitty.
A World Apart (1988)
A young South African girl deals with her parents’ disappearance in 1963.
Barbara Hershey as the mother, Jodhi May as the daughter.
Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)
The Manhattan Project, the secret wartime project in New Mexico where the first atomic bombs were designed and built.
John Cusack, Paul Newman…
Natasha Richardson looks appropriately 1940s!
Seaforth (1994)
A love story about two working-class Yorkshire people, set in 1943.
Her bangs look suspiciously 1980s | Starstock/Photoshot
Linus Roache is always cute!
Wilde (1997)
The biopic of Oscar Wilde starring Stephen Fry.
Vanessa Redgrave looking beautifully arty!
NOTHING wrong with a man in a cream suit.
That lingerie dress on Jennifer Ehle!
Gah, I LOVE BLACK AND WHITE — especially satin!
Every person crazy ’bout a sharp-dressed man!
Far from the Madding Crowd (1998)
A TV adaptation of the 1874 Thomas Hardy novel.
Set in rural England, hence all the hair?
Looking past the hair, that looks like an appropriate outfit for a lower class girl.
Photo by ITV/Shutterstock
Never put bonnets over long hair! Instant derp!
Dash and Lilly (1999)
A biopic about writers Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman in the 1940s-50s.
Photo by ITV/Shutterstock
This is very noir!
The Lady in Question (1999)
A story about a Jewish Rights advocate who may have been killed by Nazis in 1938; Gene Wilder plays the detective who investigates.
I can’t find a better pic!
Lorna Doone (2000)
An adaptation of the 17th-century-set romantic novel.
Michael Kitchen rocking the full-bottomed wig.
It’s not ATROCIOUS, but it’s not good…
Looking past her hair, this is decent for average-person 17th-century wear…
Spectacles? Really?
I’m guessing there’s some English Civil War drama?
Bright Young Things (2003)
An adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel Vile Bodies, about the young and fashionable set in 1920s Britain.
Fenella Woolgar rocking the menswear look.
Michael Sheen at a fancy dress party, working the genderqueer costume.
More costume party.
David Tennant‘s hair is PERFECT for the period, and I’m loving those lapels.
Gunpowder, Treason & Plot (2004)
A TV miniseries. The first half is about Mary, Queen of Scots; the second is about her son, James I. We’ve mocked it endlessly and for good reason. I can only assume there was less than zero budget.
Clemence Poesy as Mary.
Floating ruffs; pin-tucked dupioni.
If I overlook THE HAIR … Queen Elizabeth I at least has a partlet with her ruff?
Ohhh my favorite! CLEARLY not made for Clemence.
Decent use of sari fabric.
King James I and Anne of Denmark. She lost her partlet.
I like her hair and standing ruff! I hate this dress fabric!
Trystan can’t stand these fabrics.
Unfortunate biggins alert!
Nanny McPhee (2005)
Emma Thompson plays a nanny in this comic film set in late-19th-century England.
Kelly Macdonald looks pretty in her girly dress.
The costumes are purposefully super bright to suit the comic tone.
Allegiance (2005)
The meeting between the Irish Republican Michael Collins and Winston Churchill.
Me and Orson Welles (2008)
In 1937, a teenager is cast in a theater production of “Julius Caesar,” directed by a young Orson Welles.
Claire Danes looks pretty in her black and white blouse!
Hysteria (2011)
A doctor invents the first vibrator to treat “hysterical” women in late-19th-century Britain.
Hugh Dancy looks gooood in that high starched collar…
Providing treatment under a paisley shawl.
Rupert Everett is, of course, hot AF.
Felicity Jones looks sweet in ruffles.
And actually wears a bonnet well!
Maggie Gyllenhaal is a progressive woman.
Okay, this is TOO modern, but they’re trying to show Gyllenhaal’s character being “modern.” Sigh.
This is MUCH better!
Summer in February (2013)
An artists’ colony in Cornwall, set during the 1910s (I think?).
Her suit is great! And Dominic Cooper‘s knickers.
Nice layering.
Ooo great artists’ smock!
The White Queen (2013)
A miniseries about Queen Elizabeth Woodville and the Wars of the Roses.
Nice use of linen fabrics.
Some of the dresses seem too pared-down (let’s not even get into the hair).
Ditto.
Lovely veil!
Then other dresses look great, to my not-an-expert-in-this-period eye!
I hope that’s silk velvet, but I’m feeling rayon…
Janet McTeer‘s hair rocks!
A padded jerkin? doublet? thing? for Aneurin Barnard aka Frodo.
Hennin alert!
I’m not a huge fan of the pearls…
Appropriately regal coronation look!
Armor experts: discuss.
That hat is OTT! I think it’s supposed to be a bourrelet?
Indian Summers (season 1, 2015)
Various lives intersect in 1930s colonial India.
The costumes are perfectly suited to the characters and period.
Glam dresses contrast with rural India.
There’s glamorous parties!
Cute daywear!
Amazing sparkles!
PUPPIES
People of color!
Hot making out!
Gorgeous saris!
Close to the Enemy (2016)
Set just after World War II, a German scientist helps the British develop jet planes.
This is very cute, both the print and hat.
Fur was a Thing in this period!
Great hat!
Angela Basset looking amazing! That embroidery! That hair!
Green sparkles!
World on Fire (2019-)
A TV series set during World War II, about ordinary people.
Great hair, excellent sweater!
A nicely done uniform.
Maternity wear!
Decent.
Someone else needs to rate the uniforms. We don’t know.
(C) Mammoth Screen – Photographer: Gareth Gatrell
Flowers in the Attic: the Origin (2022)
An adaptation of several VC Andrews books, about a seriously messed up family in 1910s-50s Virginia. We’ll have a review very soon!
1910s suits on the gents.
The perfect ingenue of the late 1910s.
Beautiful 1910s lingerie dress.
1930s teenagers.
What’s your favorite of Nic Ede’s frock flicks work?
I think the ‘supposed to be a bourrelet?’ headdress in The White Queen is channelling the Portrait of a Grotesque Old Woman by Quinten Matsys:
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/quinten-massys-an-old-woman-the-ugly-duchess
– in which case it’s about 30 years adrift of period.
Not sure if I’ve said this before on this site, but in that still of Elizabeth Woodville at her coronation, one of her ‘sceptres’ is actually a modern British field-marshal’s baton with the figure of St George slaying the Dragon knocked off. I mean that literally; somebody has just taken a hammer and knocked it off, and not even bothered to file down the broken bit of dragon that was left. This is what it would look like with St George left on: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/prince-charles-prince-of-wales-holds-the-field-marshal-news-photo/500940914?adppopup=true
And, BTW, the battle action that takes place in Lorna Doone isn’t the English Civil War but the Monmouth Rebellion (in which the Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of the deceased King Charles II, landed in the West Country and stirred up the locals to try to overthrow James II and make him king instead), about a generation later.
Hm. The costumes in White Queen are so … problematic … that it’s making me really wonder about the rest of the oeuvre. Most importantly, the belted houppelande is in NO way equivalent to the 60s-70s era empire waist that Gunny Sax used a lot. That said, it’s not nearly as common, well understood, or well documented as later periods. (And while I’ve done a lot of 15th century northern European costuming, there are really very few surviving examples, so it’s possible (unlikely! but possible) that I’m wrong.)
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F9d%2F8b%2Fbe%2F9d8bbe54ffd014804b50d5c5e94dc0f8.jpg&f=1&nofb=1 does not equal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rogier_van_der_Weyden_(workshop_of)_-_Portrait_of_Isabella_of_Portugal.jpg — Dunno if those pictures are visible. Anyway, I’m not worried about sleeves, neckline, etc., but misunderstanding that underbust belt as a decorative panel is just …. well, it seems like a beginner’s mistake.
I’m glad someone else noticed this! This was really bugging me. BTW, can you think of any good movies set in the 15th century that also have good costuming?
Not really. I actually had some hopes for the 1955 Olivier version of Richard III, but when I started watching it I was less impressed — the stills were better than the garments in motion. It’s a period that REALLY depends on correct undergarments for the iconic overgarments to look / move correctly, in my experience. Others may have better ideas, however, as I am not as dedicated a film-watcher as our lovely hostesses.
The costumes look surprisingly good in Flowers in The Attic: The Origin. Especially for a lifetime miniseries!
I expect all-silk velvet exists somewhere, but not at the price points I shop at. Usually what’s available for under $100/yd is part-silk only (and not specified until you find the tiny tiny print.) Alas.
The thumbnail is a Philippa Gregory adaptation. Have you no consideration for my blood pressure?
You mentioned the armour in the The White Queen (2013) and to my eye: offensive on a visceral level. For a king, or even a noble of any kind: woefully under-armoured. By this point, mirror polished full Gothic plate armour was the fashion for nobles. He wears his family’s emblem on his single pauldron (by shape it’s not a spaulder so it just looks like a failed pauldron) which wasn’t a thing. Visual references show ornate tabards displaying coats of arms worn over the armour. (Tabards seem to be replacing joupons by this period.)
That aside, I love some this designer’s other work – such as Wilde (1997) – so there’s that.
The thumbnail is a Philippa Gregory adaptation. Have you no consideration for my blood pressure?
AHAHHAHAHAHAH
Giving me Mrs Bennet vibes!
https://tenor.com/view/mrsbennet-prideandprejudice-tantrum-crying-janeausten-gif-4810088
What a career!!! This post was a treat. I like much of what I see here even in some of the cringeworthy films. And there’s lots more I want to see now. Of course it’s always fun to spot the British actors from this, that, this, that, and on and on, and that was a delight of this post. In answer to your question, I guess I’ll go with Bright Young Things as my fave film here. It’s a fun movie adapted from a fun and wierd book and features so many actors I like. (A young and adorable James McAvoy is in the film, all too briefly I’m afraid.)